Sick Soup (GF Chicken Noodle)

January has been a bumpy month for my family and I the recipes I've been choosing reflect that. I was all set to post something healthy and crunchy today until my son started whimpering in his sleep last night, and (barely) woke up this morning with what appears to be the flu. He's an exceptionally healthy kid minus the GF thing, so it's extra pitiful when he's under the weather; there was no way I could resist his whispery, scratchy little voice pleading for homemade chicken soup for lunch.

In addition to being ridiculously healthy, he's also not a picky eater (did I mention he's also smart, handsome, and charming?) but there is not a GF soup on the market that he'll touch. I can't say I blame him - I've tasted all the GF noodle soups out there and I haven't yet found that would make me feel better if I was sick. My daughter is a purist - she thinks the soup isn't homemade unless you start out by chasing the chicken around the backyard (thank you, Laura Ingalls Wilder) - but you can knock this together in 15 minutes if you have leftover cooked chicken in your fridge.

Sick Soup (GF Chicken Noodle) - the 30-minute version

This is so simple, it doesn't even warrant an ingredient list. Chop up the half onion hanging out in the fridge after someone made tuna salad this weekend. Chop 2 ribs of celery and 2 carrots, then saute all the vegetables in a large pot with a splash of oil.

When the veggies start to soften, add a carton (or can, or whatever) of chicken stock; when you discover that you only have about a cup of it leftover and failed to buy more at the grocery store yesterday, throw in some water and a teaspoon or so of Better Than Bouillon (which is, but barely. Chastise self for not having homemade chicken stock in freezer. Remember that frozen stock takes forever to thaw and would mess up your quick soup plan. Congratulate self for having Better Than Bouillon in fridge for just such an emergency.) Simmer the veggies until they're soft, about 10 minutes. Add some leftover chopped chicken (half a breast should do it) and a couple of handfuls of these nifty little GF alphabet noodles that you've been trying to find an excuse to use:



Simmer 8 minutes or until the noodles are done. Keep an eye on these, because overcooked GF noodles are just nasty. If you're a purist and don't like the murkiness that happens when you cook your noodles right in the pot you can cook them separately but then you'll have more dishes to wash....and who wants to wash extra pots when you could be cuddling your sick child? Add white pepper (so your son won't see the pepper and complain, even though he loves the *taste* of pepper) and salt to taste.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you make the soup this way, you have to eat it all that day. These noodles soak up all the broth if you let them sit for any amount of time - say, overnight in the refrigerator - and you'll end up with something that resembles chicken noodle stew. Still tasty, but not at all the same. If you've made a big batch of the broth part, just cook your noodles separately and ladle them into the bowl before you put the broth in. Sorry about the extra dishes.

15-minute version: 
Heat your broth in a pot on the stove while you're chopping the veggies. Cook the veggies in the microwave for about 3 minutes (the Pampered Chef microwave steamer is perfect for this), then drain. Add to the broth,  along with your noodles and chicken. When the noodles are done, so is your soup.

10-minute version:
If you have leftover plain white rice in your fridge, as all the GF folks probably do, add that to the boiling broth instead of noodles. Your soup will cook in the amount of time it takes a pot of broth to boil, plus a couple of minutes for everything to heat through, but you'll still have homemade soup and look/feel like a superhero.

5-minute version:
Seriously?! I was kidding. I suppose you could do the whole thing (on a smaller scale) in a 4-cup Pyrex in your microwave, but then your house won't smell as good. If 10 minutes feels like too long to wait for homemade soup, write a blog post while it simmers to take your mind off the wait.